What About the Ten Commandments and Jewish Festivals and Kosher Eating Laws? - Chapter 45

By Dennis Edwards

All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.

Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only)[To go to the first chapters click on link]

Chapter 45

What About the Ten Commandments and Jewish Festivals and Kosher Eating Laws?

Some people like a religion of rules and regulation and church services etc. But the law of Christ[1] is above all that and says we should be motivated by love in all we do. We are no longer under a Don’t Do religion, but a Do religion: go sell all you have and give to the poor,[2] go into all the world and preach the gospel,[3] love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you,[4] heal the sick,[5] cast out devils, freely you have received freely give.[6]

But most people like to feel righteous so they would rather have a Don’t Do religion and then they can feel justified because they didn't break the Ten Commandments and didn't break the kosher laws and have kept the Sabbath. Let’s read from Isaiah.

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. [7]

Even though we as a nation have forsaken the ordinances of God in our hearts and minds, we still in our religious services make an appearance of approaching God.

Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and You see not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. [8]

We take pleasure in our apparent fasting, in our religious exercise and we wonder why God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers. We go to prayer groups and Bible studies and even stop watching TV, but still God doesn’t seem to respond.

Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? [9]

I’ve visited some churches where they make a big exercise in “fasting” foods for a week in order to pray for a need for the church, or for direction. But the Lord goes on to explain what type of fast He’s really looking for.

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou see the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? [10]

It seems the Lord is more interested in our helping others than in our abstaining from eating food. In other words, He is telling us we need to break open our hardened hearts and get involved with the poor, the needy, the oppressed and even our own family members who need our help. If we do so, He says,

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. [11]

If we do take care of those afflicted, God is promising to be a light unto us. He is promising health and that His presence itself will be our reward.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day: [12]

Did you hear that? If we draw out our soul to those in need, both physically and spiritually, He promises to enlighten our path.

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. [13]

Wow, what promises.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. [14]

In other words, if we really put the Lord first and love Him with all our heart, our mind, and strength, He will bless us. He wants our “fasting” to in fact be service for the poor and down-trodden. If we do that, then He is going to be with us. There is something about helping the poor that God blesses. Rather than “approaching unto God” in our church services, He would have us out serving first those in need. Then He promises to hear our prayers and give His presence to us, which is a reward in itself. Self-righteous religious church service and rule-keeping, is not what God wants. Love is above all those other things.[15] That’s what Mother Teresa was all about: helping the poor. Maybe that’s why Apostle James says,

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. [16]

Each fellowship has their rules and regulations, but they must remember that most of those rules are ones that they have decided are important and therefore they follow them. The trouble comes in when they try to use God's Word to justify the rules they wish for their congregation to keep, and condemn others who don’t. We do not need more rules. We need more people getting out loving others into the Kingdom of God. If our rules and regulations are not motivating us to love others then what good are they, but to make us feel righteous before God. Yet our righteousness is nothing but stinking menstrual cloth in His eyes.[17]

The conflict between grace verses works has been a raging religious controversy since the time of Cain and Abel to the present.[18] Abel’s simple obedience pleased God and showed that obedience is what God wants, not sacrifice.[19] Cain wanted to show his righteousness by his own works. He was not humble enough to obey God and sacrifice the lamb God desired, symbolic of the Lamb of God that was to come in Christ. No, he wanted to do it his way, like Frank Sinatra’s song, I Did It My Way![20] Cain would offer a sacrifice of the works of his own hands.[21] 

Here's the problem: Abel an honest sinner was willing to obey God and depended on God's righteousness to save him. Cain thought he was righteous enough since he was hard working, much more so than his brother who did nothing but watch sheep all day. Thus we see the beginning of the battle royal between those who believe in God’s righteousness, that God alone can save them, and those who believe God needs some help from us and prefer to trust in their own righteousness to save them.

I would rather stand with Mary Magdalena[22], Rahab[23], Ruth,[24] Tamar,[25] David, Paul, and the prophets who stood by faith alone in God's righteousness to save them and keep them saved. My own righteousness fails me many times a day. If righteousness comes through our rule keeping, kosher laws and church attendance and services then Christ has died in vain. Jesus alone, He is all I need! That’s what Paul argued.

But the whole point is that the law of love is in fact more than the Ten Commandments. Instead of NOT lying and NOT killing and NOT stealing etc, which obviously you will not do if you are walking in love, it's about treating others how you would want to be treated in any given situation.[26] We now have a Proactive religion instead of a Don’t Do religion. That's why the Bible says that love is the fulfillment of the law.[27] By walking in love for those in need Jesus showed us that love was higher than the law.

We as sincere Christians have graduated from the old school, or at least we should have. But a lot of people would prefer to have a Don’t Do religion and feel righteous in their don't doing, rather than a Proactive religion which motivates them to get out and help others. Not only does the book of Galatians talk about this, but Romans and Hebrews and James and John. By reading the gospels if you look carefully you find the Son of Man breaking the Sabbath,[28][29][30] just like the high priest would do and be guiltless.

We shouldn’t be striving to keep the Ten Commandments, but we should be striving to keep the New Commandment;[31] to love and treat others as we would want to be treated.[32] We should be striving to keep the commandment of forgiveness,[33] of giving unto others,[34] of preaching the gospel, of loving our enemy, of doing good to those that hate us,[35] of helping the widow and the orphan and the poor,[36] of speaking the truth in love with our neighbor,[37] of not loving money[38] nor material things,[39] and of walking humbly before our God.

By accenting the Ten Commandments we're going back to kindergarten. When we should be those that can take meat, we are still feeding on the milk.[40] But many churches teach this sort of stuff and it's a shame. God wants more than our don’t doing. He wants to come into our lives and make us vessels He can use to love and help others.[41] It’s more complicated, and most people don’t want complications.

You see the focus is different. Apostle Paul says, do not use our liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.[42] The focus is on love and helping others,[43] being proactive, getting out witnessing[44] and helping the poor, etc. It’s loving service for others! Jesus took following God to a different level and Paul seemed to get the point more than any of the disciples. He tells us that love is a more excellent way![45] Some people call it Old Testament Christianity vs. New Testament Christianity.

The Apostles Peter and James in Jerusalem had to compromise to please the many Jews who converted and still kept the law.[46] Paul was out with the Gentiles and though the Jews persecuted him wherever he went he preferred to convert the Gentiles and make new bottles out of them instead of trying to pour new wine into old bottles.[47][48] When Paul did go back to Jerusalem and compromised with James on the principle of grace verses works, Paul ended up losing his head. [49] But nevertheless, we got all those beautiful epistles to read because of it. God does get great victories out of seeming defeats.[50]

Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life,[51] and the scriptures, if read and studied with an open heart and mind, will lead us to these conclusions. We need to ask God by His Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the wonderful things contained in His Word.[52] The Holy Spirit promises to lead and guide us into all truth.[53] Could the Holy Spirit be speaking through these words right now?

When I had my God experience, I found out that God was love,[54] and that love was the answer. At that moment, I was able to go home and apologize to my father whom I had not spoken to for various years due to a physical fight we had had. It was not rules that motivated me to change, but was God's Spirit of love working in my heart. From my reading of the Gospels I see Jesus going around doing good and breaking the religious rules over and over again. Is He purposely doing so to try to help us to get the point that it is not in that direction?[55] The letter kills but the spirit gives life.[56]

The debate between grace and works is similar to the evolution/creation controversy, where both sides look at the same evidence and come up with totally different conclusions. Just like the evolutionists cannot understand the creationists view point because "they are spiritually discerned,"[57] the brethren that still want to keep the law,

have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For you being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish your own righteousness, have not submitted yourself unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.[58]

Jesus has saved me and Jesus will keep me saved. It is none of my own self-righteousness.[59]

Every church has their rules as every club does. But let us not confuse church or denomination rules with God's Law. Many churches give lip service to Salvation by grace[60] but in fact have a mixture of grace and works. The obligating of the Sabbath and kosher and Ten Commandments Laws is actually a mixture of grace and works. Jesus saves me, but I need to keep myself saved? Sorry, I can't do it. I couldn't save myself, nor am I able to keep myself saved by keeping some old religious rules that could never save in the first place.[61][62] The rules were meant to show us that we are incapable of saving ourselves and are completely dependent on the love and mercy of God.

The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto to Christ that we might be justified by faith.[63]

That if it be by grace, then is it no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.[64]

For me, I am totally dependent on the complete mercy and love of God. My own righteousness is stinking filthy rags.[65] Sorry, fellows, some of us do not understand salvation yet. We are still trying to save ourselves, even though we say we are not. Maybe it's the self-righteous feeling we get by rule keeping, that blinds us to the simple truth of the Gospel. But brethren, we have a new and a better covenant.[66] It's just so simple that many miss it. What about you? 

To go to the previous chapter click HERE

To go to the next chapter click on link

To go to the index of the chapters for the book click HERE

Notes:

[1] Galatians 2:16
[2] Matthew 19:21
[3] Mark 16:15
[4] Matthew 5:44
[5] Mark 16:16
[6] Matthew 10:8
[7] Isaiah 58:1-2
[8] Isaiah 58:3
[9] Isaiah 58:4-5
[10] Isaiah 58:6-7
[11] Isaiah 58:8
[12] Isaiah 58:9-10
[13] Isaiah 58:11-12
[14] Isaiah 58:13-14
[15] Galatians 5:14
[16] James 1:27
[17] Isaiah 64:6
[18] Hebrews 11:4
[19] 1Samuel 15:22
[20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU (access 08/16)
[21] Genesis 4:2-5
[22] Luke 8:2
[23] Joshua 6:25
[24] Ruth 1-4
[25] Genesis 38
[26] Luke 6:31
[27] Romans 13:8
[28] Matthew 12:10
[29] John 5:10
[30] John 9:14
[31] John 13:34
[32] Luke 6:31
[33] Matthew 18: 21-22
[34] Matthew 5:42
[35] Matthew 5:44
[36] James 1:27
[37] Ephesians 4:15
[38] 1Timothy 6:10
[39] 1John 2:15
[40] Hebrews 5:12
[41] 2Corinthians 5:17
[42] Galatians 5:1
[43] Matthew 25:35-40
[44] Mark 16:15
[45] 1Corinthians 12:31-13:13
[46] Acts 21:20
[47] Acts 18:6
[48] Acts 28:28
[49] Acts 21:21-24
[50] Romans 8:28
[51] John 5:39
[52] Psalm 119:18
[53] John 16:13
[54] 1John 4:8
[55] Mark 7:6-9
[56] 2Corinthians 3:6
[57] 1Corinthians 2:14
[58] Romans 10:3-4
[59] Titus 3:5
[60] Ephesians 2:8-9
[61] Romans 7:18-19
[62] Romans 7: 24-25
[63] Galatians 3:24
[64] Romans 11:6
[65] Isaiah 64:6
[66] Hebrews 12:24

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Paul’s Understanding and Vision for a New Nation – The New Jew Theology - Chapters 43-44

By Dennis Edwards

All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.

Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only)[To go to the first chapters click on link]

Chapter 43: Paul’s Understanding and Vision for a New Nation – the New Jew Theology

Chapter 44:  Jesus and a New Spiritual Israel! More Than Overcomers!

Chapter 43

Paul’s Understanding and Vision for a New Nation – the New Jew Theology

Apostle Paul, understanding the prophecies of Isaiah that God is calling out a new group of believers scattered among the Gentile nations, brings the message of salvation to them and begins to call them, the new Gentile converts, the people of God.[1] In writing to the Christian believers in Rome he says,

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.[2]

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul likens the new Gentile believers to Isaac, the seed of Sarah, or the seed of faith. He likens the physical Jewish nation to Ishmael, the seed of Agar, the father of the Arab nations, and the seed of the flesh.

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Agar.[3]

For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bears not; break forth and cry, thou that travails not: for the desolate has many more children than she which has an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.[4]

Paul was receiving persecution from the non-Christian Jews, but also criticism from the converted Jews who still thought it necessary to keep the Laws of Moses. In Galatians, Paul talks about the incident which happened in Antioch where Apostle Peter had been eating and drinking with the converted Gentiles. However, upon the arrival of some of the converted Jews from Jerusalem who still also kept the Law, Peter withdrew himself. We will read from Galatians:

But when Peter was come up to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James (in Jerusalem), he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision (which had come from Jerusalem), and the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried with their dissimulation.[5]

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, lives after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compel thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?[6]

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.[7]

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.[8]

Paul is very strongly telling us that if we could save ourselves by obedience to religious laws, then Christ died for nothing. Paul was strongly against the circumcision movement in Jerusalem, which believed in keeping the Law, while accepting Christ. It was Paul’s compromise with Apostle James on this very point which led to his arrest in Jerusalem, which we can read in the book of Acts. Even though various prophets have warned Paul about the dangers that await him in Jerusalem, Paul is set on the visit.

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou sees, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teaches all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.[9]

Paul was actually teaching the law of Christ instead of the Laws of Moses, and should have stood his ground and defended his stand. But in this case, even the great Apostle Paul shows himself to be as human as Peter. Under the pressure of James, the brother of Jesus, who was then the head of the Jerusalem church, Paul compromised and agreed to show that he also walked orderly according to the Law.

Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed of thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walks orderly, and keeps the law.[10]

Perhaps Paul was hoping that by doing so he would have more of a chance to share the truth of the Gospel with the Law-keeping Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Like he confessed later:

And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.[11]

But he never gets the chance in person. Paul’s compromise leads to a riot and eventually to his arrest by the Roman authorities. How could Paul get it so wrong when he had been warned twice on his trip to Jerusalem to not continue, and the last time he had been in Jerusalem his enemies had to sought to kill him?[12] Why did Paul continue on to Jerusalem when God seemed to saying “don’t go?” Here’s what had happened.

When he arrived in Tyre on the coast of modern Lebanon the disciples there

said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.[13]

But Paul is intent on going to Jerusalem, so he doesn’t listen. Finally landing at Caesarea on the coast of northern Israel another disciple bound his own hands and feet with Paul’s belt and said,

Thus says the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.[14]

Immediately Paul’s companions and friends beseech him not go up to Jerusalem. But Paul insists and they yield to his desire, committing him to the Lord’s will.[15]

Why did God allow Paul to make such a mistake, a mistake that will cost Paul his freedom and eventually his life? Did God have a greater purpose and he allowed Paul to get it wrong in order to accomplish that purpose?

What has been Paul’s greatest ministry over the ages? Were his witnessing events in Asia Minor his greatest accomplishments? Surely they were great events and their recording in the book of Acts has been a motivation to followers of Christ through the ages to get out and do the same. So why did God let Paul get it wrong and end up with his head on the chopping block?

In the end, what was Paul’s greatest ministry? Could it be that God wanted Paul to spend more time writing, to save his experiences for all eternity in the written word? As long as Paul was a freeman, he wouldn’t stay put. He was constantly witnessing, preaching, teaching, and instructing wherever he went. He had no time to put it down on paper for all prosperity. He barely had time to sleep.

God had to let Paul mistakenly go back to Jerusalem, where he already had had problems. He had to let him compromise with James and agree to show that he was still obedient to the Law, which Paul had consistently preached against. Why did God let it happen? The answer is God had a greater purpose.

God gets some of His greatest victories out of seeming defeats and He often brings us along the neglected path of praise in the process. Paul’s capture and imprisonment pushed him into a new ministry, a ministry that until then he was leaving for Luke to fulfill.

God knew the future and knew that Paul’s writing ministry would be his greatest and most important legacy. Paul’s ministry of the written Word resulted in much of the New Testament and was an impetus for Matthew, Peter and John to get their Gospel stories down in print. Could that have been God’s final purpose in allowing Paul to blow it, because He wanted to get Paul to write? God knew we today would be encouraged, strengthened and edified by His Word through Paul. God knew the power of the written word and he needed Paul to sit down and write.

To summarize this chapter on Paul’s “New Jew” theology, we see in Galatians Paul likening the Jewish nation after the flesh to the sons of Agar, the bondwoman of Abraham who brought forth the Arab nations. He likens the newly-converted Gentile Christians to the sons of Sarah the freewoman and real wife of Abraham who brought forth the seed of faith.

Nevertheless what says the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free.[16]

The Gentile Christians who are not keeping the Laws of Moses but Christ’s law of love, and are justified only by faith in Christ, are the children of Abraham, the children of faith. As Cain persecuted Abel, as Esau with Jacob, the false church has always persecuted the true believers.

But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.[17]

Paul goes on to say,

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heir’s according to the promise.[18] For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love. For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this; Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.[19]

But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.[20]

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.[21]

Paul is calling us not to be rule-keeping religious people, but Spirit-filled believers motivated by Jesus’ law of love. Which will we be, rule-keeping religious people, or love-filled Children of God?

Before going on to the next chapter, I need to discuss another aspect of Paul’s “New Jew” theology. According to Paul, the Israel of God is no longer the Jew after the flesh, but the new Jew, the reborn child of God, the true Christians who follow Jesus with heart, soul, body and mind. Many Christians, especially in America, have not seemed to have gotten the point, that the Israel of God, the people of God, are the true believing followers of Christ. I have heard many pastors and Christian leaders quote God’s Promise to Abraham from Genesis:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.[22]

In this promise we see God wanted the Jewish people to be a blessing to the world. He wanted them to be an example of a nation that loved and followed God’s Ways and Laws. He wanted them to help other nations to learn of God and prepare their hearts and minds for the coming of the Redeemer, Christ our Lord. But as a nation they failed. Though a remnant became the new believers in Christ and started Christianity, their nation’s leadership rejected Christ and taught the people the same. They therefore lost their position as God’s people.

Most American pastors still assume that God is talking about flesh-and-blood Israel in the above quote, and He was, until the time of Christ. With Christ’s coming and with many of the Jewish leadership rejecting His message, God had to call out a new group of believers, those who would accept and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. As Paul has so convincingly argued, the true believing Christians are the new Israel of God.

If the nation of flesh-and-blood Israel is no longer God’s chosen nation, then they should not have special privileges or allowances. American foreign policy should not be so over-handedly pro-Israeli. However, American pastors, using Scofield’s Reference Bible, which I will comment more on in a later chapter, have been deceived into believing that even though the Jewish nation rejected Christ, they have still somehow kept their privileged status. Politicians have also accepted the pro-Israeli position.

This promise is for real Christians. Real Christianity is what blesses the world.

It is true that Paul mentioned in Romans that the time would come when a remnant of the flesh-and-blood Jews who have been in blindness to Christ shall be saved.[23] No doubt, it will take the horrific period of the Great Tribulation with the Antichrist’s persecution of religious peoples to turn the Christ-rejecting Jew to Jesus. But some have already accepted Christ and they make great disciples. Their extraordinary natural gifts often make them head-and-shoulders above their brethren for both good, when they yield to God’s spirit, and bad, when they do not.

Jesus called the religious leaders who rejected His Message the children of the Devil.[24] Jesus said they did not hear His Words, because they were not of God.[25]

In His last discourse before His Passion, Jesus blasts the scribes and Pharisees over and over again, calling them hypocrites, avarice, fools, blind, legalistic, superficial, serpents, and vipers; who seek the praise of men more than the praise of God.[26]

In the book of Revelation Jesus calls them “the synagogue of Satan.” He says,

I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.[27]

When talking to the body of Christian believers in Philadelphia, which means brotherly-love, Jesus makes the following comment,

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.[28]

Here we see Jesus confirming all that Paul has so methodically explained to us. They are both teaching the same message. The Christ hating, Christ rejecting Jew has no special place in God’s Kingdom unless, or until, he changes, humbles himself and receives the life giving love of Christ. All who humble themselves before Christ and call upon His name shall have the gift of eternal life.[29]

Notes:

[1] http://www.messiahrevealed.org/all-people.html
[2] Romans 2:28-29
[3] Galatians 4:22-24
[4] Galatians 4:25-29
[5] Galatians 2:11-13
[6] Galatians 2:14
[7] Galatians 2:16
[8] Galatians 2:21
[9] Acts 21:17-21
[10] Acts 21:23-24
[11] 1Corinthians 9:20-22

[12] Acts 9:29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

[13] Acts 21:4

[14] Acts 21:11

[15] Acts 21:12-14 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

[16] Galatians 4:30-31
[17] Galatians 4:29
[18] Galatians 3:29
[19] Galatians 5:6-14
[20] Galatians 5:18
[21] Galatians 5:19-23
[22] Genesis 12:2-3

[23] Romans11:25-26 For I would not, brethren, that ye be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in…

[24] John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do…

[25] John 8:47 He that is of God, hears God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

[26] Matthew 23:1-39
[27] Revelation 2:9
[28] Revelation 3:9
[29] Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Chapter 44

Jesus and a New Spiritual Israel!

More than Overcomers!

In the last chapter, I touched on how Jesus’ view of the New Israel was the same as the Apostle Paul’s. Let’s look at Jesus’ comments in greater detail. In John, the scribes and Pharisees bring unto Jesus a woman who was found “taken in adultery, in the very act.”[1] The scribes and Pharisees want to condemn her to death by stoning, which was written in the Law of Moses. But Jesus says unto them,

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.[2]

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.[3]

An interesting point here is that the older men were the first to be convicted by their conscience. The younger men in the height of their zeal felt more justified in condemning the woman to death and were ready to cast the stone to fulfill the Law. But the older men, worn down through the toils of life and aware of their own shortcomings, failures and sins, and knowing that their own lives were coming to an end, were conscious of their own necessity of receiving forgiveness.

I recently read about an incident that occurred at the end of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s life. Montgomery was the highest British commander in World War II. He fought under Eisenhower and with Patton against the Germans in the invasion of Europe. At 88 years of age, nearing the end of his life, Montgomery was unable to sleep. In desperation he asked for his closest friend to be called for. When his friend arrived, Montgomery confessed he was unable to sleep because he knew he was soon going to face God. His conscience was weighing heavy upon him and he had no idea how he was going to justify the death of all those young lads in the war, lads who had gone to their deaths because of Montgomery’s decisions. His conscience was causing him to seek God, to seek God’s forgiveness.[4] No doubt, those older Pharisees were sensing the same feeling.

Paul tells us that in the Latter Days men shall be past feeling, their conscience seared with a hot iron.[5] In other words, they will not have a conscience to tell them that they are doing wrong. Their conscience will be hardened. Jesus Himself said men’s hearts would grow cold because of the abundance of iniquity.[6] Was He talking about the world we live in today?

In the incident with the woman taken in adultery, Jesus tells the Pharisees or religious rulers that they are judging after the flesh. He tells them they are not behaving as children of Abraham because they are seeking to kill Him,

a man who has told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.[7]

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.

Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.[8]

Jesus goes on and says,

You do the deeds of your father.

Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.[9]

He that is of God hears God’s words, you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.[10]

Jesus is showing that the children of the flesh are not really the children of God. It is the children of the Spirit who listen, hear and obey God’s Word and God’s voice of conscience in their heart, who are the real children of faith. As we find in Hebrews,

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (Israel according to the flesh): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.[11]

In Jeremiah we read,

For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youths even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.[12]

In other words, we haven’t obeyed the voice of conscience, God’s voice within our hearts. The point I am trying to make here is as Jesus said,

The flesh profits nothing.[13]

God’s Kingdom is not a flesh-and-blood kingdom, but a spiritual Kingdom of those born of the spirit. One night during Jesus’ ministry, a ruler of the Jews who was member of the Sanhedrin came to Jesus secretly to know Him more intimately or up close and personal, as we say today. Let us read from the Gospel of John.

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus says unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?[14]

Jesus begins talking to Nicodemus about the importance of the spiritual birth. Nicodemus does not seem to be getting the point, even though he is an important religious leader and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, their “Supreme Court.”

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.[15]

Here Jesus is making a comparison between the two types of birth; the physical or water birth and the spiritual birth. It behooves us to seek for God. God promises that if we seek for Him with all our hearts, we shall find Him.[16]

Jesus said we should

hunger and thirst after righteousness.[17]

He goes on to say to Nicodemus.

The wind blows where it lists, and thou hears the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it comes, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and know not these things?[18]

Have you experienced that birth of the Spirit? Paul tells us:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, everything is made new.[19]

Jesus said,

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.[20]

Are you longing for personal fellowship with a love that will never let you go, never disappoint you, never leave you, nor forsake you?[21] Then call upon the name of the Lord,

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.[22]

You could say a little prayer like the following from your heart:

Jesus, I need Your help. I have gotten to the point that I just cannot go on any more. Please, reach down and touch me. Cleanse me from those things that are offensive in my life, where I have screwed up. Make me new. Give me a new start and a new heart. In Jesus’ name. I pray.

If you’d prayed that little pray or one like it, God has promised to answer and come into your heart, your life. As you draw closer to Him, He will manifest Himself unto you.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.[23]

Back in the 60s and 70s we used to sing the song We Shall Overcome. You can watch Joan Baez’s rendition at the following link.[24] The song was originally a Christian spiritual song by the Black Americans as they peacefully waited to overcome the injustice of their servitude. One of the lines of the song says, “We shall live in peace one day.” The youth of the 60s used the song as a protest against the war in Vietnam and the Godless materialistic society we found ourselves in. Our hope was that one day the world would live in peace.

However, man has shown time and time again that he is incapable of living in peace and harmony. Man cannot have peace without peace on the inside, without peace of heart, peace of mind and peace of spirit. He cannot find peace within himself because he is troubled with doubt, anguished with his own inability to always be good and do good. Like the great Apostle Paul said,

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that do I… Who shall deliver me from the bondage of this death?[25]

But Paul, the murderer and persecutor of the new religious sect, found the answer. He says,

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.[26]

It's only by letting the love of God in our hearts in His Son Jesus that we can overcome, overcome our selfishness, overcome our lack of love, overcome our depression, overcome our fears and anxieties, overcome our anger, overcome our pains, overcome our murmurings, overcome our failures and overcome our sins. Jesus has overcome and He offers us His overcoming grace, His overcoming Holy Spirit, His overcoming love, His overcoming forgiveness. But without Him, we are nothing and will accomplish nothing of real value.[27] But with Him all things are possible.[28]

Have you got that overcoming “feeling,” God’s Spirit, down in your heart? Call out to Jesus, because through Him, you can overcome! He says,

To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.[29] He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.[30] To him that overcomes will I give power over the nations.[31] He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.[32]

John the Apostle tells us:

Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?[33]

Do you want to be an over-comer? Then let God’s overcoming Spirit into your life through the Lord Jesus Christ, and you can become as Paul said

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, (in other words, more than overcomers), through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.[34]

Join the team! Be an Overcomer!

[click on link for next chapter]

Notes:

[1] John 8:4
[2] John 8:7
[3] John 8:9
[4] Spufford, Francis; Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity can still make Surprising Emotional Sense; Faber and Faber Limited, London, 2013; pages 39-42.
[5] 1Timothy 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
[6] Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
[7] John 8:40
[8] John 8:39
[9] John 8:41-44
[10] John 8:47
[11] Hebrews 4:2
[12] Jeremiah 3:25

[13] John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

[14] John 3:1-4

[15] John 3:5-7

[16] Jeremiah 29:13

[17] Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

[18] John 3:8-10

[19] 2Corinthians 5:17
[20] Revelation 3:20
[21] Hebrews 13:5
[22] Romans 10:13
[23] James 4:8
[24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM39QUiAsoM&ab_channel=John1948SevenB (accessed 09/2020)
[25] Romans 7:19-24

[26] Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

[27] John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

[28] Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

[29] Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

[30] Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.

[31] Revelation 2:26 And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations.

[32] Revelation 21:7

[33] 1John 5:5
[34] Romans 8:37-39

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Jews at top of class in first-ever global study of religion and education

By Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service, December 13, 2016

Jews are more highly educated than any other religious group, while Hindus and Muslims are the least educated, the first-ever global study of religion and education shows.

Jews go to school for 13 years on average, and Muslims and Hindus for six years, according to the report, released Tuesday (Dec. 13) by the Pew Research Center. The study shows vast gaps among religious groups in educational attainment. But education levels globally are rising, and no faith group is left behind.

“Even those group that are relatively disadvantaged are making considerable progress across generations,” said Conrad Hackett, the study’s lead researcher. “That’s a story of hope if you consider getting more education to be a good thing.”

Christians are the second-highest educated religious group in the world, with nine years of education, followed by the religiously unaffiliated, and then Buddhists.

These global findings are not perfectly reflected in the U.S., where Muslims and Hindus are often better educated than the Christian majority. In America–as in many countries–highly educated minorities have been welcomed, and often have the means to migrate. In the U.S., 96 percent of Hindus and 54 percent of Muslims hold a college degree, compared to 36 percent of Christians.

Globally, Hindus and Muslims “have made the biggest educational gains in recent generations,” Pew concludes. While the oldest generation of Muslims studied has 3.5 years of schooling, the youngest has seven. And while the oldest Hindu generation has four years, the youngest has seven.

While the overall global picture is one of progress, it is also one of educational poverty.

“Despite recent gains by young adults, formal schooling is neither universal nor equal around the world. The global norm is barely more than a primary education–an average of about eight years of formal schooling for men and seven years for women,” the report concludes.

And education is highly correlated with religion. Four in 10 Hindus and more than one-third of Muslims have no formal schooling, while 1 in 10 Buddhists and 1 in 100 Jews lack any education.

The factors driving these disparities vary, experts say, from differing attitudes toward education within religious groups, to their distribution among societies where education is compulsory and valued. Some scholars have argued that the work of Christian missionaries has had a positive effect on education levels in areas in which they have worked.

As for the particularly high level of educational attainment among the world’s 13 million Jews, “there’s a culture of literacy that predates modernity,” said Steven M. Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College who advised the Pew researchers on the study.

Jewish tradition, at least among men, has demanded literacy from its adherents, not just its religious leaders. “Jews need to learn Hebrew in order to pray–they need to pray from a prayer book,” Cohen said. “Jewish prayer services are just much more participatory. They require more familiarity with the text, as opposed to reserving the study of sacred text for an elite.”

And for millennia anti-Semitism often forbade Jews from owning land and farming, and otherwise limited their choices for making a living, so they were forced into more entrepreneurial jobs, such as trading, that required literacy and numeracy, Cohen said.

Asked if the study might unintentionally fuel rising anti-Semitism, which today as in the past traffics in conspiracy theories that paint Jews as clever, conniving forces, Cohen said it shouldn’t make a difference.

“Anti-Semites are already convinced,” he said. “But I know many Jews are still worried about their place in society, and worry about appearing too successful because that’s been an anti-Semitic trope.”

The wide gap between the world’s best and least educated groups is also partly a function of where these groups tend to live in the world, the Pew researchers found.

The vast majority of Jews live in either the U.S. or Israel, highly developed countries with high levels of education overall. But 98 percent of Hindu adults live in the developing countries of India, Nepal and Bangladesh, where a solid education is available to only a minority.

The study relied on the best and most recent data available from 151 countries, representing 95 percent of the world’s population. The numbers indicate the quantity of education, but do not indicate its relative quality.

The data returned many surprises, Hackett said. Gaps between groups in education were often wider than researchers predicted, even within the same nation.

“We see this huge gap in sub-Saharan Africa between Christians and Muslims,” Hackett said. Muslims are more than twice as likely as Christians there to have no formal schooling. He hopes such findings spurs government and other leaders to factor in religion as they try to raise education levels overall.

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Running as the Thinking Person’s Sport

By Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times, Dec. 14, 2016

Running seems to require a greater amount of high-level thinking than most of us might imagine. The sport seems to change how the brain works in surprising ways, according to a new report.

The study, published this month in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, found that the brains of competitive distance runners had different connections in areas known to aid in sophisticated cognition than the brains of healthy but sedentary people. The discovery suggests that there is more to running than mindlessly placing one foot in front of another.

Scientists have known for some time that mastering certain activities demands considerable thought and consequently can alter the workings of the brain. Playing a musical instrument, for instance, requires refining a variety of fine motor skills, while also engaging memory, attention, forward planning and many other executive functions of the brain. So it’s not surprising that past brain-scanning studies have found that expert musicians tend to have greater coordination between areas of the brain associated with different kinds of thinking, as well as sensory processing and motor control, than do people who have never picked up a bassoon or other instrument.

Similarly, in neurological studies of athletes whose sports stress hand-eye coordination, strategizing and mental attention, such as badminton players and gymnasts, the athletes generally displayed greater interplay between parts of the brain devoted to cognition and mental focus than did the nonathletes.

But running is not usually considered to be cerebral. Most of us learned to run as toddlers, perhaps falteringly at first but progressively with more confidence, and afterward mostly stopped thinking about how to run, at least consciously.

So we would probably not, as a rule, expect running to activate parts of the brain that control advanced cognition.

But researchers at the University of Arizona suspected that running might in fact be intellectually demanding and could affect thinking patterns in people who run, even when they are not running.

To test that idea, the scientists recruited 11 competitive, collegiate male runners and another 11 young men who said that they had not exercised in the past year. The researchers used questionnaires and mathematical formulas to quantify the men’s physical activity levels and estimate their aerobic fitness. (They focused on men primarily because it is difficult to control for the effects of the menstrual cycle on the bodies and brains of young women.)

Then they had each volunteer lie quietly for six minutes in an M.R.I. scanner while the machine measured levels of activity in their brains.

The researchers were particularly interested in any coordinated activity between different parts of the brain, as indicated by areas of the brain that were simultaneously lighting up in similar ways. Such synchronized activation is thought to indicate that parts of the brain have developed functional connections, even if they are physically separated from one another.

It turned out that the runners’ brains displayed a number of different connections than did the brains of the sedentary young men, and those connections involved areas of the brain needed for higher-level thought.

In particular, the scientists noted more connectivity in the runners than in the inactive men between parts of the brain that aid in working memory, multitasking, attention, decision-making, and the processing of visual and other sensory information.

There also, interestingly, was less activity among the runners in a part of the brain that tends to indicate lack of focus and mind wandering.

In essence, the runners seemed to have brains in which certain cognitive skills, including multitasking and concentration, were more finely honed than among the inactive men. Earlier studies in older adults have found that similar connections are associated with improved memory and cognition as people age.

“To me, this suggests that running may not be such a simple activity after all,” says Gene E. Alexander, a professor of psychology, neurology and physical sciences at the University of Arizona. He co-led the study in conjunction with David Raichlen, a professor of anthropology at the university.

Instead, running seems to be a kind of mobile math puzzle. “It requires complex navigational skills,” Dr. Alexander says, “plus an ability to plan, monitor and respond to the environment, juggle memories of past runs and current conditions, and also continue with all of the sequential motor activities of running, which are, themselves, very complicated.”

Given running’s mental demands, he was not surprised, he says, that the runners’ brains indicated differing thinking patterns than in the sedentary young men.

Of course, this type of study cannot prove that running actually caused the differences in the men’s thinking, only that runners had certain patterns of thought.

Likewise, it is unclear whether running, alone, has such effects, or if other endurance sports, including cycling and swimming, would be associated with similar brain connections, or whether people who are not college-aged and male would respond in the same ways. The scientists also did not test their volunteers’ cognition, so they could not say whether the differing thinking patterns among the runners were linked with being smarter.

But Dr. Alexander and his colleagues hope to perform experiments in the future that could tell us more about how running and other physical activities actually alter thinking patterns and whether, as we age, we might be able literally to run away from mental decline.

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Hillary Clinton hacked by Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear

By Simon Black

December 13, 2016
Santiago, Chile

If there’s one thing that’s certain in the intelligence business, it’s that there’s rarely any certainty.

That’s pretty much the first thing they teach you at spy school.

Back in the early days of my intelligence career, I had one instructor who explained it in a way that I’ll never forget.

“If you present your analysis as if it’s fact, instead of conjecture, the person who’s relying on your intelligence could end up making a bad decision that gets people killed.”

Intelligence is not about definitive conclusions. It’s about gathering data and coming up with plausible theories that connect the dots.

Sadly, sometimes those theories are influenced by personal or political agendas.

Back in 2002-2003, the Bush White House had a pretty clear predisposition that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs).

Miraculously, the intelligence reports conformed to that narrative.

And America went to war based on an “unassailable conclusion” from the intelligence community that Iraq had WMDs.

The facts were largely bogus, circumstantial at best. But this became the rallying cry behind every politician and media outlet’s patriotic bloodlust.

How quickly they all forget.

Here we are today with a new assertion: those dastardly Russians hacked Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

I read it in the New York Times, so it must be true.

Once again there is a chorus of condemnation from the intelligence community and political establishment based on supposed rock-solid conclusions.

Yet once again the assertions are nothing more than theories that connect some very circumstantial dots.

Here’s the actual evidence:

The hacks were executed using two types of malware known as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear.

(Yes that’s what they’re actually called.)

Fancy Bear is malware that takes a conventional “phishing” approach.

A phishing attack is when a hacker creates a web page that’s almost an exact copy of one that you’re used to.

For example, they’ll create a website that looks like your bank’s login page.

So if you click on a malicious link in your email that takes you to the fake page, you’ll inadvertently supply a hacker with your bank username and password.

They’ll then use that information to compromise your bank account.

Fancy Bear allowed hackers to gain access to private emails… primarily because the users at the DNC got duped into providing their login credentials.

Cozy Bear is the second piece of malware that installs itself on a computer, typically after a user clicks on a malicious web link.

One installed, the Cozy Bear malware deploys Remote Access Tools (known as RATs), providing a remote hacker access to the machine and its files.

If, however, Cozy Bear finds that the machine has advanced security software that could detect the malware and cause problems for the RATs, Cozy Bear will self-terminate.

So the first thing to point out here is that the DNC (and potentially the people who were administering Hillary’s private email server) weren’t maintaining the latest security patches and updates on their systems.

Someone at the DNC clicked on a malicious web link that installed the malware, and it didn’t self-terminate because they weren’t bothering to use advanced security software.

Duh.

This is a simple competence issue, and I’m surprised it never came up in the news.

More importantly, Cozy Bear was used against the DNC as far back as summer 2015... as in just before, or right after, Donald Trump entered the race.

So it’s hard for me to believe that Vladimir Putin was actively hacking the DNC to support a candidate that had barely (or not even yet) materialized.

Most importantly, just because cybersecurity experts detected Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear doesn’t mean that the Russians were behind the attacks.

These assertions aren’t based on concrete facts; they’re just speculating that Colonel Mustard did it in the library with the candlestick.

(Apologies to our readers who are too young to have played Clue.)

But facts (or lack of facts) don’t matter.

Whenever something bad happens, the US government blames Russia… and everyone believes it without taking any time to question the evidence.

It’s as if we’re living in some lame espionage movie from the 1980s where the Russians are always the bad guys.

Look, I have absolutely zero regard for the Russian government (as is the case with just about every country’s government).

But I find it almost hilariously short-sighted how quickly everyone rushes to judgment against the Russians. Or the Chinese. Or the North Koreans.

Sure, maybe the Russians did it. And I’m happy to believe that’s the case once clear evidence is presented.

But it’s worth acknowledging right now that their assertions are nowhere near conclusive.

It’s not like this is the first time in US history that the federal government or one of its intelligence agencies could be wrong… or… <shudder> have a reason to lie.

It’s notable that last week President Obama ordered the entire intelligence community to investigate the Russian hacks.

Given the Obama administration’s numerous statements about the Russians’ complicity, and the nonstop media coverage about the “conclusive” evidence, it’s pretty clear that the outcome of the report is already pre-determined.

Just like the Iraq/WMD analysis back in 2002-2003, this investigation is biased by the boss’s predisposition that the Russians are guilty.

What I find most disturbing, though, is how they can’t let it go that the Russians influenced the election and manipulated voter sentiment.

I’m sure we can all appreciate that the hacks, no matter who perpetrated them, constitute criminal activity.

But the information that was released as a result of the hacks shined a painful and embarrassing spotlight on the inner workings of the corrupt political establishment.

So when the papers and politicians complain that the hacks influenced the election (as if the US government has never tried to influence a foreign election), they’re really just whining that voters found out the truth.

They have that little respect for your dignity.

Until tomorrow,

Simon Black

Founder, SovereignMan.com

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